The present invention relates to food management systems and more particularly, relates to an improved meal delivery system for preparing, storing, transporting, rethermalizing and serving large volumes of food at multiple sites.
Food service management is a fast growing industry with high demands for efficiency, consistent quality and customer satisfaction. These issues are particularly important in areas of food service management in which foods are prepared and served in large quantities and in which foods prepared in one location must be delivered to another site at which the meals are served, such as in the healthcare industry and in the catering industry. In order for multiple warm meals to be delivered to a predetermined location at a particular time, the foods must be prepared, transported to the destination, unloaded and served. All of this must be accomplished within a pre-allotted amount of time while maintaining the foods at the desired temperature.
Typically, meals for high volume feeding, such as for a banquet or large catered event, are prepared in standard sized food service pans, kept hot for many minutes to a couple hours before the event, at which time they are plated or displayed and served hot. Movable warming or hot cabinets with vertically spaced apart shelves are known for storing meals prior to serving and for use as meal delivery and retrieval units. One disadvantage of these type of cabinets is that the meals therein may be maintained at the desired temperature for only a short time. Thus, if the transportation time is lengthy or the serving of the meals is delayed, the meals may not be suitably warm when served. Another disadvantage is though these carts are electrically powered, most operators do not trust them and, therefore, add sterno or hot water to the cart to supplement the warming effort.
Cabinets for meal storage, delivery and heat maintenance, which include heating components, are known. Examples of these types of cabinets are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,404,935, 5,628,241, 5,520,102, and 5,403,997. However, another disadvantage of these type of cabinets is that cart components are heated but the food pan itself is not directly heated. Also, these carts often require that the foods be transferred from the standard size food pan to another holder. In addition, the heated cabinet may improperly heat food by applying high levels of heat to foods which require low levels of heat or fail to heat the food sufficiently by applying low levels of heat to foods which require high levels of heat. Thus, certain foods may become undesirably dry under high levels of heat and other foods may not be sufficiently warmed under low levels of heat. Further, because the food pan itself is not directly heated, the foods must be removed from the heated environment and placed on a serving surface, such as a buffet table, for serving and may quickly become cold. While heated lamps or burners may help to keep the foods warm while being served, such lamps or burners may not be readily available or convenient to use in some settings and often do not keep the foods sufficiently and uniformly warm.